The Singapore government is launching a new training center focused on cyber threats under the Cyber Security Agency. It will be an academy to boost the skills of cyber-security professionals in government and Singapore’s critical sectors, including energy, banking, government healthcare and transport.

Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean said the academy was essential, given that Singapore was heavily connected.

The Cyber Security Academy will cooperate with leading industry partners in cybersecurity training. It will be opened in the later part of this year and will be expanded later to include cybersecurity professionals of the wider community.

Details of the investment and the academy’s launch date and size are still being worked out. However, the agency will include US-based cybersecurity firm FireEye as its first partner to provide training in incident response and malware analysis.

Additionally, the Singapore government will also launch the Cybersecurity Awards to recognise outstanding cybersecurity professionals, enterprises and students who have made “significant contributions” to the ecosystem, Teo said.

Singapore will also be tabling a Cyber Security Bill in parliament next year which would require private and public organisations to report breaches that involve critical infrastructure to the Cyber Security Agency. It also empowers the agency’s chief, as commissioner of cybersecurity, to investigate threats and incidents to ensure essential services are not disrupted in a cyberattack.